Ancalagon
Dusty Dragon
Hello
So the adventure I'm running is an old 2nd ed one that gives startlingly powerful item like candy. So I go "nope" and re-roll them. So for one item that was particularly bad I reroll and get the Trident of Fish command.
I laugh a bit, wonder if to give it out (who's going to use it?) and figure the PCs can always barter it or something. PCs get it, a bit later long rest, player asks to identify it with a ritual. I say sure. They ask me for stats, so I look it up.
As I remembered, no bonus to hit or damage, but it does allow you to dominate fish. Woopty doo right? Except a "fish" is defined as something with a natural swim speed. Suddenly the trident doesn't seem *that* shabby, esp considering that squid men are recurring foes in this campaign! The players are happy so I just go with it.
But then I thought about it, and realized that this is actually a very clever joke about the middle ages. Back then, you couldn't eat meat on Fridays if you followed the catholic faith, but fish was allowed. But what exactly is a fish? Given the important religious rule around eating fish, this was not a trivial question, it mattered. The Church's rulings on the issue were sometimes... off. For example, beaver was a fish!
So face with this same dilemma (what is exactly a fish in a world with things like mermen?), the designers went with an overly broad definition, thus making a dubious item not that dubious, and - intentionally or by accident - making reference to old medieval beliefs on the issue.
So the adventure I'm running is an old 2nd ed one that gives startlingly powerful item like candy. So I go "nope" and re-roll them. So for one item that was particularly bad I reroll and get the Trident of Fish command.
I laugh a bit, wonder if to give it out (who's going to use it?) and figure the PCs can always barter it or something. PCs get it, a bit later long rest, player asks to identify it with a ritual. I say sure. They ask me for stats, so I look it up.
As I remembered, no bonus to hit or damage, but it does allow you to dominate fish. Woopty doo right? Except a "fish" is defined as something with a natural swim speed. Suddenly the trident doesn't seem *that* shabby, esp considering that squid men are recurring foes in this campaign! The players are happy so I just go with it.
But then I thought about it, and realized that this is actually a very clever joke about the middle ages. Back then, you couldn't eat meat on Fridays if you followed the catholic faith, but fish was allowed. But what exactly is a fish? Given the important religious rule around eating fish, this was not a trivial question, it mattered. The Church's rulings on the issue were sometimes... off. For example, beaver was a fish!
So face with this same dilemma (what is exactly a fish in a world with things like mermen?), the designers went with an overly broad definition, thus making a dubious item not that dubious, and - intentionally or by accident - making reference to old medieval beliefs on the issue.
